De Las Mercedes, on October 20th, 2008 at 8:34 pm Said:
I am having a problem with Countrywide/Bank of America allowing me to apply for this program because I have not been delinquent.
I meet all the qualifications outlined by the Hope for Homeowners program; however, the home retention unit states that I am not eligible because I have not been late with payments yet.
I explained my situation and was told that I should try to short sale the property. My answer is I would like to keep the house. Do you have any suggestions??? Need Help???
EAE2MOM, on October 21st, 2008 at 9:10 pm Said:
I am having the EXACT same problem as De LasMercedes is with Countrywide. What do we do? Please help
jennifer, on October 22nd, 2008 at 5:33 pm Said:
de las mercedes,
i have been having the EXACT same problem with countrywide and bank of america.. if you get a solution let me know…
Moe Bedard, on October 23rd, 2008 at 6:35 am Said:
This has been my biggest concern with the H4H. Another program that makes it only voluntary if for lenders and servicers to cooperate.
This is why I wanted feedback from the community and it is important the we keep this discussion going. Thank you for your comments.
Karen, on October 23rd, 2008 at 11:27 am Said:
Option One Mortgage/American Servicing Company to date has “Not Put anything into place, relating to, H4H” I was told to look for any information regrading H4H on future mortgage statements. Waiting for them to “Figure it out” means that I along with all the other folks who have mortgages with them and are behind or simply can not afford the ridiculously high payments ARE GOING TO LOSE OUR HOMES!! Any suggestions as to what we/I do from here?
Tricia Ramer, on October 23rd, 2008 at 8:05 pm Said:
I am with American Home Mortgage as well. We were just denied our loan modification and had a third party helping us. We were denied because I stayed current on my credit card payments and car payment, and allowed us to fall 2 months behind on our mortgage. I took a leave of absence from teaching for 2 years to run a business. It bombed, I am now back in the classroom with guaranteed pay. My husband is also a teacher. We have the income to make the payments, we just want them to lower the principal and tack on the past 2 payments.
Where do we go from here?
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
well I am with countrywide and we are behind 3 payments and they are unwilling to work with us because our budget allows us to make the monthly payment and oh well it is not our fault you had a reduced income for 6months and could not make the payment you can now so catch up. I wish we never got involved with them the did not pay my homeowners insurance on time and caused my escrow to increase and looking over my paperwork I discovered they put on the application that my income was double what I really make. Is there anyone who can help?
For those who have been unable to apply for a workout program or loan modification program because you have not yet been delinquent, try this: allow a monthly payment to become due. In other words, if you you are due on the 1st and late on the 15th and have auto-pay for the 1st or have simply always gotten your payment in by the 1st, terminate your auto-pay or stop payment on it, or simply do not send in your payment. Then, on the next possible business day (ie, the 2nd), call your lender again and see if your luck suddenly changes. I can’t guarantee it, but it will probably work.
This will move your status from a borrower who is not at risk to a borrower who is in “imminent default”. This just means you haven’t defaulted, but will if something isn’t done. The reason for this is that most lenders’ loan servicing systems simply will not allow a loan that is not late to be modified. Hence, the person you are talking to is not going to be able to help – and depending on their level of knowledge, will give you reasons for this with varying degrees of accuracy. In addition, lenders are flooded with loan mod and workout applications, and they really aren’t able to manage the volume effectively right now. So, what they have to do is priortize by working loans that are closest to foreclosure first. If a loan is not even late yet, they simply have no motive to modify it, systematically speaking.
This won’t affect your credit negatively. Just be SURE to constantly communicate with your customer service / loan mod representative. They are probably extremely busy with other loans that are much closer to foreclosure than yours, so you will need to take the lead in communcating. Once your application is in, the lender will freeze your account and your loan status won’t be reported to the credit agencies.
Like DeLasMercedes, i’m having the same problem with Wells Fargo, i am not behind payments but we are really having trouble coming up with the mortgage payment these past 4 months and the value of houses in my area went down significantly. I called the bank and asked for loan modification and they said they cant do anything for now. We’re trying really hard to make payments but looks like its a ‘lost cause’, and lenders dont care to help the good people like us… we bought the house with downpayment and we are not part of the those people who bought it with just a stated income and no money down as their ticket of owning a house. I need advice/help.
I have US Home Bank Mortgage, in KY. Rep was so rude about H4H and people involved. Adamantly advised will not be involved in H4H. Part of the bill should of been mandatory on part of lenders.
Anyways my point is, when i spoke to modifacation dept. they said that “expenses can not be more than $500 over income” to qualify to re-do term, which is what i want. So isaid i’ll call back, which i will and give them the no’s they want to hear.
I meet requirements for H4H except the before jan 1, 2008. I wrote mort in April 08.
Anybody else just a few months past start date of before jan 2008?
We too are having the same difficulty with Countrywide. Because we have never been late on our mortgage, their only solution to us was, “sell the home at fair market value”. if we did that, we would still be upside down. We purchased for $279K with a USDA Guaranteed loan in April 2006. Our home is now valued at $210K with a balance owing of $260K. We have made it a point to be responsible and pay our mortgage on time, however, we have fallen behind in other bills just to keep our mortgage current. I was under the impression that when you had a government backed loan, the servicer would have to make an “attempt” to help the borrower, seems like they feel they will get their money anyways from the government so who cares about the borrower. I don’t want to purposely not pay my mortgage, but am finding it more difficult to get their attention. I think it is so unfair that these companies made poor financial decisions and the goverment gives them this billion dollar bailout which, from what I hear they are already squandering. Yet us working folk who, I admit in my situation made some poor financial decisions, get no help whatsoever. I am trying to be proactive and honest in trying to work things out, Countrywide on the otherhand, is not being the same.
Hi. I have been reading your comments and the situation you are all going through. I work for an Association that assist folk’s just like you. Late on their payments, Foreclosure situations, even if the Property is close to being auctioned, etc.
If interested, let me know how we can get in contact so I can explain how it works.
Good luck.
While the H4H program sounded good, I have found that it seems to have more challenges than benefits. You are all right in that it should have been madatory on the part of the lenders to really get modifications going; but, unfortunately, its’ another one of those government plans that sounds good but, doesn’t really work in practice. Here are my thoughts on it: if you go to the H4H website, it references all the participating lenders in the program; but, we have all seen that while the lender may SAY they are participating, what is actually happening is quite different. Personally, I think that the lenders don’t have a business incentive to do the program. And we all know if they have no incentive, they won’t do anything.
That being said, I think that Sheila Bair’s efforts should be commended. She is providing a blue print for the industry and the banks will catch up. They need to realize that by modifying people’s loans, they will be in a “some is better than none” situation. Many of your are beginning to fall behind on your payments as the only way to get the lender attention and I know a lot of people that are doing the same.
Truth be told, I am the owner of a loan modification service company. We aren’t attorneys and aren’t giving legal advice. All we do is help our clients through the process. Times are tough for everyone and if we can be the people on the phone harrassing the lenders for our clients, I feel like we can alleviate some worries. We’ve managed to help quite a few people and I’m glad that there are forums like this to discuss the environment.
For those that are working their own modifications, here are a few tips:
1) Persistence is key; I had a client who was blantantly told that she need to be behind on her payments for Countrywide to even LOOK at her information. Part of this comes from the fact that she was getting passed from call center to call center and never going up the ranks.
2) The banks are taking a close look at debt to income ratios. I have found that to be one of the most important factors in our successful modification.
Lastly, as an FYI, the Economic Stimulus Act that was passed by Pres. Bush included a tax savings for anyone who gets their loan modified. In the past, you had to pay taxes on the difference between your old loan amount and new amount and recognize it as income. However, the Act has waived the taxation of this item and I really think it will spur modifications by borrowers.
I think the banks are behind the curve and if we can all hang tight for a little while longer, these modifications will really start picking up speed. I know that’s hard when the banks are coming down and foreclosing but, keep your heads’ up! Congratulations to all of you on your efforts – if there’s any questions that I can help with, feel free to contact me directly.
Regards
Laura
Most of the banks and servicers will say this. Why? They are short-staffed, and their employers are bleeding money, too. There are hiring freezes, and often they are employing temporary workers.Some are not even in this country!
Most homeowners also do not understand how to propose a loan restructure. This in essence is what a loan modification is. Still, not all are alike.
The banks are all doing triage, and will gnerally only work with the cases closest to foreclosure first. by the time they get these files closed, the ones that “weren’t so bad” are now “real bad” and so the now have to workk them. Hte poor staffs are always in a tense mode, because they cannot work their way backwards through the pile.
sometime, it is best to talk to a payment coordinator first. Countrywide can be very difficult to work with, at times. They lost three subprime units in the meltdown, and had to reabsorb all of the loans they couldn’t package and resell on the secondary market.
In my dealings with loss mitigation departments, I haave found that you are at the back of the stack at 60 days late, in the middle between 90-120, and in triage after that. by then, most homeowners are working four jobs to float as couples or two as singles, and have eaten up their savings and 401k money trying to keep up with mounting debt. Unfortunately, many havn’t curbed their spending, and will not be able to get on top of their finances, eeven if the loan is modified. Others have had a major calamity on life, as a result of a health issue, and are not yet back on their feet.
There are no easy answers. Be patient, and keep calling, until you get someone willing to help. If they are able to help you, be sure you do what you say you can. the second time around is a lot less cooperative.
When dealing with the banks, and you provide figures, they put these into your file. It is never wise to provide false numbers. Once they work on your file, the truth will come out. If you falsify information you will get a permanent reject.
If you can provie that you did not authorize an income amount recorded on a loan application that you signed (You had better have a copy that will prove the difference), things go differently, becuase that looks more like FRAUD issue generated by the loan broker or loan originator. That can give you legal standing, but… PLEASE CONSULT AN ATTORNEY! I’m not one.
I got a mortgage dismissed over fraud. not forgiven… Dismissed. Be careful wha tyou say on the phone, “These calls may be recorded…” means exactly that, an in this case a recording proved a string of events in someone’s portfolio. don’t even think of attempting this at home. In this case, I just got purely lucky and had notes of the conversation in a log.
writing your state representatives in Washington, and at your state level can also help. Just be prepared for a delay. This can help if you are just falling behind. You can also petition your staet’s banking commission. I have also seeen the stte insurance commissions being petitioned.
In most states, I would say be careful of threatining bankruptcy to a lender. It will only accelerate the foreclosure process, and stop any useful conversations. Most of the time it will only delay the foreclosur, and in soe state, the foreclosure wil resume where it left off. Here again, CONSULT AN ATTORNEY! i am not one, even though I read everything in print on the topic, including my state’s foreclosure and bankruptcy rules.
Hope 4 homes, FHA Access, and FHA Secure programs are voluntary, and no lender is ound by availability to use them. in fact from what i can tell, thought he money is available, only 3-5% of it is being accessed. The “why” is that conventinoal lenders who cannot do FHA loans are unwilling to see their cash flows disappear. I am working with several mortgage brokers in a roundtable to see if their is a way for them to tap the funds, and use them to refinance distressed homeowners.
If you are talking to AMC, EMC, Saxon, or Litton you are only tallking to the servicer (payment taker) on the loan. Litton often offers loan modifications proactively, but the terms may not be afordable. Look over the paperwork carefully, and understand the terms. then negotiate, negotiate, negotiate… Servicers have no control over he loan workout programs. that is the decision of the lendrs who are their clients.
Hope for Homeowners is a waste and is a punitive loan program. There is no list of participating lenders, becausethere are none who willingly will do it.
The undewriting guidelines make it almost impossible to originate one loan even if there were participating lenders.
If you were able to qualify under this program, you would be paying 2 times the standard insurance amount UPFRONT, plus there would be a yearly renewable @ 1.5% of the outstanding loan amount, not to mention the monthly mortgage insurance premium.
In addition, there would be 3 leins on your property, 2 of which are governement leins. The government will share in any future appreication @ 50% of that gain over the beginning new loan amount.
There is no hope in this program it was just a phony political tool to keep the masses at bay until the election.
I’m in the business and I’m attempting to help my clients obtain a new standard FHA loan w/o all the government fingers in the pie. The main point is the debt forgiveness via short re-fi payoff. Not one lender will tell you when you call there LOSS MITIGATION DEPARTMENTS that they are willing to do it.
I’m in Florida and we are a judicial state which means the lender has to sue you for the house. In my county, Lee, this process is taking well over a year and that is if you don’t contest. I advise that EVERYONE contest your foreclosure proceeding, there are valid defenses being employed and used. I have set up a connection with a group of attorneys who are close to having an administrative order signed by a judge. Once that is done, every homeowner who CONTEST their foreclosure proceeding will force their lender to come to the table and negotiate terms, modifications etc. I will follow up with further news.
I have found for those of you that are not yet behind on any payments and that are upside down on your home, that using words like possible foreclosure remedies tossed at your lender, might open the door to talks. What do you have to lose.
Lastly, Chap 13 can be a good house keeping strategy as well.
All of my advice is my personal opinions and is not to be construed as legal advice.
However, since I’m in the mortgage business I can at least share what is not and what is working
We tried to get a loan modification from Indy Mac and were also turned down because our house payments have been on time. They totally ignored the fact that we were putting in a distress call that we were going down if they didn’t throw us a lifeline. My huusband lost his job and the unemployment benefits are done and he is now a college student. We are using student loan money to make our monthly payments. In one years time, we chalked up over $45,000 debt just from student loan debt to pay tuition and living expenses. We are only asking for our interest rate to be reduced from 8.25 to 5.25% which would decrease our payment over $600 per month. THis seemed fair to me- it would help us out tremendously and Indy Mac would still get lots of money out of us. Our request was denied twice.
If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate any advice. I am going to also contact an attorney since we did a “stated income” loan and see if we can fall under the fraud lawsuit against Indy Mac. I just read about it on another page of this site, but I didn’t know about the deadline in October and we missed it.
When doing modifications, the banks are looking closing at the debt to income ratios of borrowers. I am not certain how the banks calculate the debt to income ratio in order to make a determination about the loan modification package. Does anyone know how they make that determination?
Like tejanogol we too are current on our mortgage with CW and they say they won’t help even though H4H says we qualify for a loan modification due to income being less than at time of refi in August 07 and the fact that we have a 8.25% sub prime. We are also delinquent on credit cards in order to pay the mortgage. But CW told us to just wait a year and we should regain the $30,000 in lost value and then refinance can’t do it now as we are “underwater” What world do they live in. Of course even if a miracle happened and we did regain the lost value our credit would be trashed because we couldn’t keep up with the credit cards, so we couldn’t refi anyway. A vicious circle. Right now our mortgage payment is taking up about 42% of our take home pay the rest has to pay utilities, cc, food, gas, etc. We have cut back as far as we can. At time of refi husband was taking home about $150 to $200 more per week than he is now due to the economy. the mortgage takes all of my monthly take home, plus some extra, but we don’t qualify for anything according to CW.
FYI, as of Dec 1 BOA is doing H4H only for Countrywide customers. BOA customers will have to wait…
Hope Now has is now No Hope Now. We are with Wells Fargo and after dealing with Hope Now our home is in foreclosure and is now costing more to keep my house then before. Wells Fargo must be looking to get into the real estate business. Still fighting to keep it.
I am also having the same issue with CW. I have decided to fight back. I have canceled my escrow payments and will make insurance and tax payments myself. No sense in allowing CW to use the interest off my money. I’m writing my congresswomen and HUD, and anyone who is listening. I’m terrified to miss a payment hoping to qualify for assistance, there has got to be a better way.
Im having the same problem with cw ive been calling for six months my payments are not late but i can barely afford my other bills i just keep getting the run around my house is worth less the i owe any suggestions?
the same problem here too with CW, I’m 4 months late on my payment,and still no help what can we do? my current payment takes 50% of my take home money and they still don’t want to help. any suggestions.
I am waiting on a loan mod with Chase. What a joke, So is HOPE. They are just getting paid and doing nothing. Don’t waste your time with them. Write Obamaweb site. I do everyday. Call your Attorney General office or call the comptroller of currency or the banking commission. Don’t give up. Also, the mortgage company has to produce note on your house. You do not have to accept whatever they offer you. Talk to your mort lender or talk to a loan mod attorney. It is a long process but the govt is bailing out the banks and they need to bail out the homeowners.
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Great advcie Jeana! Leave no stone unturned and keep up the good fight!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ make your complaints to this website much more help i find.
I just went thru a chapter 7 bankruptcy, I have 1st, 2nd and 3rd on home, the loans where liquidated and on credit report shows I only owe on my 1st loan. I have heard so many remedies and have heard as long as I pay on the 1st which is the only one showing I owe on my credit report for the other 2 are dissolved in bankruptcy and can I do this and not pay 2nd and 3rd, if so, will I ever be able to have liens taken off? Please advise everyone tells me something different. Linda
I just went through bk7 and discharged all the mortgages and was never told i could leave out ANY creditor, 1st, 2nd, whatever. Just because the 1st is still showing up on your credit report only means they didnt report to the credit bureau yet. The other mortgages are still liens on the property which is separate from your not being personally resposible for them. They cant get a default judgement against you if a foreclosure or sale doesnt get enough money to pay them… that’s the good news about bk7 and this market.
I had been working on my loan mod with AmTrust Bank since mid 2009, went thru a 4-month forbearance period, & I was told by the bank rep in Dec 2009, that a settlement was near………then FDIC took over the bank & I recently received a letter from FDIC asking me to submit-a loan mod application if I need to want to do loan mod. What a joke, FDIC did not even just take over the loan mod case they wants to start all over again….. what a waste of time. I had a loan mod attorney helping me, but the attorney just told me I need to deal with FDIC by myself because FDIC only deals with homeowners directly. It that true? All the money I have paid to the attorney were wasted too. Please kindly advise. Thanks
Does anyone know how FDIC & lenders treat self employment income vs W-2 income?
Also, I found an loan mod Excel spreadsheet on the FDIC’s website, played with it, & found out unless the property value has dropped way below the current mortgage amount, I always failed the loan modification test, & the analysis always result in a short sale. I want to keep my home, if there any way to force into a loan modification?